Bioinformatics and Biotechnology

Electronic Journal of Biotechnology ISSN: 0717-3458 Vol. 12 No. 1, Issue of January 15, 2009
© 2009 by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile Received February 26, 2008 / Accepted August 20, 2008
DOI: 10.2225/vol12-issue1-fulltext-3
SHORT COMMUNICATION

Two LTR retrotransposon elements within the abscisic acid gene cluster in Botrytis cinerea B05.10, but not in SAS56

Ming Zhao
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100039, China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: zhaoming02292002@yahoo.com.cn

Jin yan Zhou
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: abath@cib.ac.cn

You jiu Tan
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100039, China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: tanyou9@126.com

Wei wei Song
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing 100039, China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: songweiwei426@sohu.com

Zhi dong Li
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: abath@cib.ac.cn

Hong Tan*
Chengdu Institute of Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chengdu 610041, PR China
Tel: 86 028 85219314
Fax: 86 028 85219314
E-mail: abath@cib.ac.cn  

*Corresponding author

Financial support: Key Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.KSCX2-YW-G016) and the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program (863) of China (No.2006AA10A213).

Keywords: Botrytis cinerea, genomic sequence analysis, in silico, LTR retrotransposon.

Abbreviations:

ABA: abscisic acid
IN: integrase domain
LTR: long terminal repeat
PBS: primer binding site
PPT: polypurine tract
RT: reverse transcriptase domain
TSD: target-site duplication
WGS: Whole Genome Shotgun

Abstract   Full Text

The plant hormone abscisic acid has huge economic potential and can be applied in agriculture and forestry for it is considered to be involved in plant resistance to stresses such as cold, heat, salinity, drought, pathogens and wounding. Now overproducing strains of Botrytis cinerea are used for biotechnological production of abscisic acid. An LTR retrotransposon, Boty-aba, and a solo LTR were identified by in silico genomic sequence analysis, and both were detected within the abscisic acid gene cluster in B. cinerea B05.10, but not in B. cinerea SAS56. Boty-aba contains a pair of LTRs and two internal genes. The LTRs and the first gene have features characteristic of Ty3/gypsy LTR retrotransposons. The second gene is a novel gene, named brtn, which encodes for a protein (named BRTN) without putative conserved domains. The impressive divergence in structure of the abscisic acid gene clusters putatively gives new clues to investigate the divergence in the abscisic acid production yields of different B. cinerea strains.

Supported by UNESCO / MIRCEN network